Ubuntu RecentQuicklists is a Python script that adds recently accessed files as quicklists (right click menu) to applications pinned to the Unity Launcher.

The script should work with any application that handles files, as long as it has a desktop file under /usr/share/applications/. Among the applications confirmed to work with Ubuntu RecentQuicklists are LibreOffice (Writer, Calc, Impress), Gedit, Firefox, Google Chrome, VLC, Clementine, Evince, Atom, and others.

You may want to check out the Ubuntu RecentQuicklists wiki for compatibility information and FAQ.

The tool allows some customization via its configuration file (called "urq.conf" - it should be available in the script folder after running it for the first time!), such as:

maxage - only show files that were accessed in the last <maxage value> days;

showfullpath - when set to "True", it displayes the file path and name, and when set to "False", it only displays the file name;

maxentriesperlist - the maximum number of recent files to display in a single quicklist;

startupsplash - show or hide a notification when Ubuntu RecentQuicklist starts;

Here's another screenshot, showing recent quicklists for LibreOffice Impress, with "showfullpath" set to "True":

It's important to mention that the recently used files show up as quicklists only for the apps that were pinned to the Unity launcher before running Ubuntu RecentQuicklists.

Also, the script doesn't detect moved, deleted, or renamed files, and in such cases, the file is removed from the quicklist only after the user clicks it. When this occurs, a notification is displayed.

Download and use Ubuntu RecentQuicklists

To use it, extract the downloaded archive, make "ubuntu-recentquicklists.py" executable, either via right click > Properties > Permissions > Allow executing file as program, or from the command line:

chmod +x /path/to/ubuntu-recentquicklists.py

(where "/path/to/ubuntu-recentquicklists.py" is the path to ubuntu-recentquicklists.py, e.g.: ~/Downloads/ubuntu-recentquicklists.py)

And then run ubuntu-recentquicklists.py, either from your file manager (if you use Nautilus, you need to change some settings to be able to double click executables to run them), or from the command line:

/path/to/ubuntu-recentquicklists.py

To automatically start Ubuntu RecentQuicklists when you login, open "Startup Applications" from Dash, click "Add", use whatever you want for its name, and for "Comamnd", click "Browse", and select the ubuntu-recentquicklists.py file.